PARALON

Robot Mode: First thing first: despite portraying a Robots in Disguise character, Paralon pulls double duty paying homage to a Beast Wars character, Scorponok. Not just because heís a purple robot transforming into a scorpion, but especially the head is a dead ringer for the nogginí of the TV show character (more so than the toy). Which is especially interesting seeing as Paralonís head looks a bit different in the RID cartoon, but being a Beast Wars fanatic, I certainly donít mind the homage.

Homages aside, Paralon is a pretty good robot, too. He is pretty spindly except for those massive shoulder pieces, but has a solid stance despite the tiny feet and chicken legs. Articulation is quite good and the detail work is pretty nice for an RID figure as well. Yes, heís mostly purple, like quite a few other Decepticons, too, but thatís their color after all. Canít blame them for embracing the corporate identity, can we?

For weapons Paralon carries a grey sword and, of course, has his scorpion tail with a stinger at the end. Now the tail is a bit too short to actually use it in combat (unless he is being attacked from behind), but it is quite nicely articulated and you can plug Paralonís sword into the end to give him an even bigger stinger (and a little more reach, too). So overall, Paralon is a pretty good robot. Nice looks, nice homage, and no flaws worth mentioning.

Alternate Mode: Paralon transforms into a robotic scorpion. The transformation is quite complex for an RID Warrior toy and includes the big shoulder pieces of the robot mode sliding down the arms to form the scorpion claws for this mode. While the claws look good, the way they are designed largely restricts any movement below the shoulder. The rest is basically just Paralon lying down in his belly and tucking his legs in, but it works quite nicely. The resulting scorpion retains the articulated tail and can, of course, still attach Paralonís sword to the stinger as well. So overall, a nice scorpion mode. A bit more articulation in the arms/claws would have been nice, but apart from that: quite good.

Remarks: Interesting story: Paralon here, available exclusively at Toys RíUs, is a repaint of RID Scorponok. But while Scorponok was the first to appear in the TV series, Paralon is actually the first to appear on the toy shelves. Not really sure why, maybe Toys RíUs just couldnít wait any longer. Anyway, Paralon is a member of the Decepticon scavengers who are seeking Cybertronian artefacts on Earth (not a hard job, this place is basically Cybertronís junkyard after all) and he was first seen ransacking the former Autobot Base from Transformers Prime when he encountered Bumblebee and his team.

As a toy Paralon is yet another interesting Decepticon design given form. Sure, we have sort of seen this design before a few times, but itís still nicely done and we do need more RID Decepticons to offset those endless hordes of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime repaints. Whether you like Paralonís or Scorponokís paint job more is a matter of taste, of course, but given the Beast Wars homage, there was no chance of me passing him up. Not a revolutionary toy, no, but very nice and an easy recommendation.